


That Which Is Left Behind

by asterysk



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Does this count as whump? I'm new to that term, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I just like ghost shit okay, Link can't catch a break, Listen link is a dork even when dead, Ostensibly set in twilight era but vague bc I've only ever played botw lmao, That's a platonic relationship tag there, rated explicit for gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 01:44:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19263457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterysk/pseuds/asterysk
Summary: All Link had wanted was to live a simple life on the road. Apparently that was too much to ask for.





	That Which Is Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> I was daydreaming about things when I thought about the Hero's stash in botw, and how it's only 300 rupees. I wondered if the Link who left it had wanted to add more to it, but never could. 
> 
> So then this self indulgent mess of a fic Happened. What can I say, I love being a morbid fucker. Enjoy?

On the road, he felt the most alive. He simply felt too restless otherwise, and the road brought him to where he needed to be. He had a loose goal for this trip, perhaps a wishful folly, but nothing ventured...

He wanted to leave something for the next hero. A time capsule of sorts. He'd picked out a place, and he'd already left a little something, but now he had mementos and more.

Link knew that he had been reborn multiple times, and would be again, but he had no real memory of them. He had been lucky to meet the lingering essence of his last life, and he had learned a lot from them. Link had no intention of becoming a ghost like them, but the idea of leaving something behind for someone appealed to him.

This quiet peace belay the fact that he would never reach his destination.

His thoughts were pierced by an arrow embedding itself in his side, no warning given before it struck all too deep.

His recoil sent his mount staggering at the sudden pull. Link doubled over, gasping, grasping at the shaft in pain. He had no time to process the wound before the sound of hooves bore down on him.

A rope wrapped round him as two riders drew up to him, masked, armed, and intent. The rope caught on the shaft of the arrow, causing fresh, blinding pain, as a pull of the rope not only bound him but dragged him from the saddle to the dirt.

It had been seconds, with no warning, no chance. Link spluttered curses and tried to get to his feet as the riders dismounted. He may have been getting older, but Link didn't doubt that in a fair fight he would have the upper hand.

No chance, no reprieve.

One of the bandits produced a wickedly sharp dagger, and Link was helpless as they pushed him back down, held him there, and bared his throat for the blade.

Gasped curses were replaced with gurgling as blood spilled from his mouth and neck. They held him down as he thrashed in his final effort to cling on to life, even as it flooded out of him. Everything of Link's being screamed, all but his voice, literally drowned out.

His vision went red, and then black. Limbs stopped obeying, sensation dulled. All with barely any time to think. Perhaps that was a mercy.

Except Link found he could still think. Even though the pain had faded. Everything felt still, quiet again. No heartbeat. No breath.

Death.

Oh goddess.

He was dead, wasn't he?

He couldn't move, couldn't feel, even though experience told him that his heart should be racing.

He was left in the void with only his thoughts.

He still had things he wanted to do.

How had his life come to... This?

...

In the void, he finally pinned down a sensation. Weightlessness.

Oh yeah.

He was probably a spirit now, wasn't he?

It all felt a little too familiar as more implacable sensations entered his awareness.

What would become of him?

If he was a spirit or ghost, he should be able to... Reach out in some way.

As he focussed, the first sense to return- or maybe it hadn't left at all- was hearing.

"You know, I thought we'd get more of a fight from him, what with that sword he had. Maybe we're just too good at this!"

"Fancy sword means nothing if he don't get to use it. C'mon, if that sword is anything to go by there should be good loot."

...That was it? They just wanted to rob him? His life ended like that, bleeding out at the side of the road, after everything he had been through... For something as mundane as robbery.

Anger and rage moved limbs he didn't realise he had, lifting him up. He opened eyes that he hadn't been able to open until now, and he saw the back of his head. Rising to his feet, he stumbled away from the still twitching corpse, away from the expanding pool of blood. It looked wrong, but all too real.

His body just lay there, face down in the dirt, helpless and broken. A spasm produced a quiet gurgle as another rush of blood spilled out.

It was disgusting.

In looking away, he turned to his murderers, rummaging through his packs without a second thought for him.

... Murderers.

For the first time, Link's focus wasn't on his death.

It was on them. How many had they killed before him? Obviously several at least. They were too practiced, too... Inhuman.

What could he do though? Looking down at his hands showed mere vapourous representations of them. Just a ghost of himself. Surely he couldn't interact with anything, he would just go through it-

Looking back to them as they looked through his purse of rupees, laughing all the time, he had an idea, a desperate one. He stepped forward, focussed, but moved as if wary of alerting them. They stopped laughing as he reached out for them, the moment before his hands sunk into their backs. His touch paralyzed them, leaving them no chance to run. Why would he give them that privilege?

They didn't give him it.

Going deeper, his hands wrapped round their hearts, full of the warmth of life. Life they stole from him, and then discarded in favour of trinkets. Was life always this fragile? He gripped tight enough for the beating to start spluttering. He could feel the fear in them as they choked and wheezed. He could taste it. It was delicious.

But it made him feel so, so hungry.

...

He let go.

They collapsed to the ground, clutching at their chests and shivering from their brief taste of death.

Link stepped back, distancing himself from the temptation to tear away and devour their lives. He could see that was a path even darker than the one his predecessor had gone down.

They weren't worth it.

They had taken his life. They wouldn't take his soul too. He was dead, that was that. He needed to let go. His next life would begin all too soon, and he needed to rest as much as possible before then. As he thought this, an ethereal fatigue surfaced within him, the call of the other side. It was bittersweet, but far more satisfying.

The anger within subdued, Link looked down at the still shivering bandits with a mix of pity and disgust. They would get to keep their lives maybe, but Link knew he couldn't rest knowing they were still free to kill others like they had killed him.

He felt more grounded and substantial, and his hands seemed to reflect this. Perhaps now...

The ends of the bloodstained ropes they had used to bring him down felt solid to his touch. They jolted when they wrapped around them like it had done to Link, and when they paled and looked into his eyes, he knew they saw him.

"No more." His voice sounded like an echo without a source. "You'll kill no more."

The horses stamped and riled as he lifted the two bandits effortlessly onto their saddles, still bound and paralyzed with fear.

...

If he was going to bring them to someone, it felt wrong to leave his body behind. Looking back, the twitching had stilled and what blood hadn't soaked into the dirt was congealing. It made Link feel nauseous somehow, looking at his crumpled self, but at the same time he couldn't look away. He spared a glance toward his captives, before lifting his shoulder and turning his body over.

His face was coated with blood and frozen in panic, eyes wide open even in death. Link felt a shudder move through him as he looked at his own face in the flesh, and then a chill as he saw the tear in his throat and how deep it went.

Gingerly, he reached out and closed his eyes, before getting back up and walking over to his horse.

Lyra champed and took a step away from the ghost approaching her, until she realised who it was. Hesitantly, she stood her ground and snorted.

"Shh, Lyra. It's me. It's okay." Link ran a hand down her neck as he went for his packs. Although ransacked and disorganised, it was still relatively easy to find the large roll of canvas that he used for camping, and the smaller roll of bandages from his med kit. Lastly, a small flask of water, and a carrot for Lyra as a reward.

He shot another glance over at the terrified bandits as he laid out the canvas, making sure to do it away from the pool of blood as best as he could. Moving back to his body, he splashed some water on the end of the bandage and wiped the blood away as best as he could. His clothes were beyond redemption, but wiping his face helped to soothe something of the brutal reality of his death.

He then started to wrap the bandage around the gaping wound in his neck, only to pause when he realised he had no way to cut the bandage free from the roll.

Glancing around reminded him of the arrow stuck in his side, the shaft buried halfway into his flesh. Grimly, he gripped the shaft and pulled it free, the newly open wound lazily oozing blood. The arrowhead was sharp enough to cut the bandage loose, and Link tucked the end in to hold it in place. Blood had begun to soak through, but it covered it well enough.

Work done, he carefully lifted his body up to move it onto the canvas. Sure enough, it was big enough to make a functional shroud. Carefully, methodically, he folded and wrapped his body up in the canvas, using the rest of the bandage to secure it. It was simple, perhaps pointless work, but it soothed another restless part of his soul to see it done.

A burst of panicked muttering and movement from his murderers caused him to look up. They froze under his stare, and when he spoke, his voice was icy to match.

"I can still change my mind as to your fate." Link let a smile slip onto his face, despite the hollow gaze. "Maybe I could slit your throats as you did mine."

They quietened immediately. Link still didn't want to kill them, but letting them think their life was in the balance wasn't unwelcome. A little taste of the fear he died in.

He lifted his now shrouded corpse onto Lyra's back, carefully lying it across the saddle. Link was in no mood for speed, it would be fine like that.

A pause to give a last look to the place he died. Nothing of value left behind. With a soothing whisper to the horses, Link lead them down the road he never got to finish his journey down in life.

 

* * *

 

The sun had long since set when they approached their destination. They had moved slowly, a combination of having to lead three slightly spooked horses, and Link not wanting to rush this last journey. It felt like the forest was watching him as they went past, saying a silent goodbye maybe. Animals lingered where normally they would have fled. The breeze was soft and gentle, and as twilight fell, that strange and familiar sadness washed over him as the birds sang.

Prisoners in tow, Link smiled as he saw the flickering firelight of the guard post in the gloom. He continued his steady pace as they approached the gate and its increasingly worried looking guards. Could they see him? They seemed to stare, and Link could see how he cast a pale firelight of his own in the dark, creating a myriad of subtle shadows.

One of the guards finally summoned the courage to raise his spear. "Who goes there! State your business!"

Link took a few more steps, only halting a short distance from the two.

The younger guard was rambling to himself. "Goddess, is that a... What the hell- oh goddesses..."

Link held up his hand in a friendly gesture. "Don't..." He winced as he heard the echo of his voice. "Don't worry. I mean you no harm."

The spear holding guard gulped, but withdrew his spear slightly. "...What are you?"

A sad smile. That sort of question wasn't unwarranted, he supposed. "...A ghost. Just finishing some business before I can move on."

He couldn't resist a chuckle when he saw the other guard pale and grip his spear tighter at this validation of his fears. "What, never seen a spirit before? I've met a number while on my travels - they're not all shadowy monsters." He left out how he had been sorely tempted to become one. With a sigh, he continued.

"...I was... murdered earlier today. By those two." He gestured to the pair, still bound and silent. "They're bandits. They killed me for no reason but to steal what belongings I had. I... I can't rest without knowing that others won't meet my fate."

"...oh." The elder guard took a shaky breath, and Link had to fight away the pang of jealousy and bitterness for what they still had. The guard looked at the terrified pair, before recognition filled his eyes. "We've been hunting these two down for months... I..." He paused and looked to Link with sadness. "I'm sorry it came to what it did."

"It's okay. It seems to be my way to be either stupidly lucky or unlucky. Today was the latter." He smiled and shrugged nonchalantly.

The younger guard actually approached and spoke to him for the first time, albeit quietly and unsure. "...You're pretty calm for someone who was murdered."

Link gave a sly smile to the bandit pair. "I wasn't at first. I've had time to work through some things... I think it's an upside to death; if you can put things behind you, it's oddly peaceful..." He looked down at his hands again, ethereal and shimmering. "I'll rest easier when I know that these guys are rotting in a cell or something. C'mon."

Together they hauled the prisoners off their horses and into the guard block with little fight from them. As the lock to the cell turned, Link felt another part of his soul settle. He didn't bother looking back at them. They had already had too much of his time.

He followed the guards back to their watch posts outside. Back to Lyra. There were still a few things left to do.

"Thank you for helping me so far, but I have a couple more requests if you'll indulge a dead man's last wishes." Link stroked Lyra's nose, the horse having since settled in his altered presence. "My body is in the shroud. I don't care much for formalities, but if you would bury or burn it, I..." He paused as if holding back emotion. "...In the forest is fine. I always felt at home in the middle of nowhere. It fits."

"...Of course. It's the least we can do."

"Thank you... There's just a few other things. I... Don't really have any family left. Could you find a home for my horse Lyra? She's a good mount, if a little stubborn... My things are of probably no interest to anyone, but if you see something, feel free. As for my rupees..." Link retrieved the pouch from his pack, and handed it to one of the guards. He smirked when they felt the weight of it, and nodded when they hesitantly moved to take a look inside.

"Try and make sure it finds its way to anyone who could do with some help."

"... That's maybe the most rupees I've ever seen in one place."

"May well have been what got me killed. It's not like I can take them with me, can I?"

"... No." The guard closed up the pouch and put it back in one of the packs. "We'll see what we can do."

"That's all I can ask of you. You've already helped me a lot... Enough that I think I can move on, save for maybe saying a goodbye or two if I can."

The guard bowed his head slightly. "... I'm sorry that we had to meet like this. I would have liked to meet you in life... You seem like a really good guy."

Link smiled, with a hint of knowing hidden in it. "...I try to be." He stroked Lyra for one last time, the horse nuzzling into his touch. The tiredness was growing, the call to pass on getting stronger. "It's probably time for me to go. Lyra, make sure you behave without me."

Lyra snorted.

"I mean it."

Link took a step back and looked to the guards that had helped him. "Well then, I think this is goodbye."

The pair stood to attention, and the elder even raised a hand in salute.

"C'mon, I said I wasn't much for formalities." Link regretted saying something as they looked sheepish, unsure what to do with themselves otherwise. "...but, if you want, I guess."

Just as Link turned to walk away, the younger guard spoke up with a start. "Wait! You haven't told us your name!"

"Haven't I? Must have slipped my mind... My name's Link."

Link smiled as he heard the younger call out to him as he faded into the ether, leaving only embers of soulfire.

"Wait, you mean like the Hero?"

In the veil of the world, Link paused to watch them for a moment.

The elder put his hand on the younger's shoulder. "He's gone, kid."

"Was... Was that all real?"

"The stuff's still here isn't it? ... You must have heard stories from the other men at some point. This kind of thing happens every now and again, souls looking for help. I guess it was our turn..."

"... Should we look at the body? See if it's the same person or something?"

"Hmm. I suppose... I'd like to say a few prayers for him."

Solemnly, they picked the shrouded body up and set it down, untying the cloth round the head.

"It's a little odd that his body is wrapped like this... I don't think those bandits would have bothered..."

As the cloth parted and lifted away, the younger took a sharp intake of breath.

The elder just sighed, and placed a hand on the body's chest. "Poor guy. He really didn't deserve to go out like that."

"I don't understand how he was so calm about it all... If I..."

"It's best not to think about it. I suspect he didn't want to either."

They muttered a few prayers for him, and Link felt another part of him relax and give in to the call.

C'mon. Best not to linger too long, he thought, as he let the ether take him to his next destination.

 

* * *

 

She was asleep. Unsurprising, really- it was the middle of the night. He looked at the sleeping Zelda for a moment, before resolving to come back in the morning. However, before he could leave, she stirred.

Groggily, she sat up, clutching the covers for warmth as she blinked to clear her sight.

Link felt guilty for the whole situation when she laid eyes on him.

"Link? What in Hylia's name are you-"

She cut herself off as something connected in her mind.

Link just smiled apologetically. "Hey Zelda. Sorry for waking you up."

Concern and confusion filled her face. "...Link? What happened?"

He winced. With a sigh, he rubbed the back of his head in embarassment. "I... Kiiinda kicked it?"

Zelda frowned, her tone curt. "I can see that. What _happened_?"

Link moved to sit on the bed by her. "It..." He gulped, and placed a ghostly hand over Zelda's. The guards had been right: he really didn't want to think about it. It dragged up rage he thought he had put to rest.

"I was travelling... and I was ambushed by bandits. I didn't really get much of a chance before..." Link unconsciously reached for his throat. It said all Zelda needed to know.

Zelda blinked away tears. "Are they still at large?"

"...No. I saw to that." Link saw Zelda's questioning expression. "I didn't kill them! I brought them to the nearest guard post, by the plateau."

"...And your body?"

"... I brought it there too. I told the guards this and I'm going to tell you too: no fancy funerals."

Zelda laughed, despite the tears running down her face. "Of course not. You'd hate it... You spoke to the guards?"

"Well, yeah. I needed to tell them why two tied up guys suddenly appeared on their doorstep, and why they needed their worst accommodation available."

"...I take it you're feeling okay then."

"...Honestly? Yeah. I'm still pissed off about having died, but... I dunno. Actually being dead is kinda chill, in a weird way."

Zelda reached up carefully, and was soothed by the fact that she could still faintly feel Link's hair, cold to the touch as it were.

Link looked over at her touch, and Zelda could still make out how blue his eyes were, despite how the colour had faded from his form.

The part of Zelda that held what scant memories she had of her past lives shouted and cursed at how fate had been so cruel again. The part of her rooted in the here and now cried and mourned for a friend taken all too soon.

Link looked away for a moment. "I'm sorry."

His arms wrapped around her, butterfly light and chill, but he still felt like Link, and Zelda thought for a moment that she could smell grass and earth and metal.

All too soon he pulled away.

"I asked the guards to try and find a home for Lyra. Since I know you'll be heading there in the morning, can you help them with that?"

Zelda wiped the tears away with her hand. "Of course."

"My stuff is all there too. I can't think the majority of it would interest anyone but you, so help yourself. Not like I can keep it." Link smiled softly. "... I'd have liked to have been able to stick around, but... a new adventure calls. Onwards and upwards."

Zelda made a noise somewhere between agreement and a sob.

"Hey." Link touched her hand again. "With your weird spirit powers I bet you could call me or something."

Zelda tried to steady her breathing with a deep breath. "...Maybe so."

Light began to slowly filter around the curtains, the dim light of dawn.

Link looked to the window, and then got up to peer through the curtains. "I always did like the view from your balcony."

Zelda followed him, looking out over Hyrule. "It is nice. You can see some beautiful sunrises from here."

They stayed like that in companionable silence as the sky filled with the other kind of twilight, the one that Link perhaps didn't appreciate enough. One that carried hope.

"Normally I'm never awake for sunrises like this."

"Better late than never, sleepyhead." Zelda smiled, burdens of royalty and fate temporarily forgotten. "...I'll miss you so much Link."

"I was never around anyway, Zelda."

"It's the principal of knowing you're out there."

"... I'll just be out somewhere else."

"Somewhere further away."

"Zelda-"

"I know, I know. It's just... Unfair."

"...Don't need to tell me that twice... Maybe some day we'll fix this cycle. We might be able to have a lifetime without world altering threats."

"One can hope."

"I think we need to hope."

The dawn bloomed into day, and the world began to stir again.

Even as he appreciated it's beauty, Link was struck with the feeling of being out of place. The now familiar fatigue pushed him in the direction of the beyond.

"I need to go. The afterlife ain't gonna explore itself."

Fresh tears appeared in Zelda's eyes. "Goodbye, Link."

"Hey. It's not goodbye. It's see you later." Link's calm smile suddenly was replaced with that look that he got when he had an idea of questionable quality.

"I've spent all this time as a ghost but I haven't actually tried floating. I have to try it at least once! How do I do it..."

He awkwardly tried lifting his legs up, only managing one at a time, until he tried switching quickly... At which point he fell over and caught himself in midair.

"Okay, that's how I do it. Pretend I did it straight away."

Zelda calmed her laughter in order to speak. "... Honestly I'm impressed you managed it, I would have thought you would have been too dense."

"Really? I don't feel- hang on that's not what you meant is it."

Zelda cracked into giggling under his glare.

"Is that what we've come to? Insulting the dead? I'm hurt." Link managed to right himself, still floating a foot off the floor. "Way to spoil the good vibes we had going."

"You spoiled the mood."

"Spoiled? I think you mean improved." Link gave Zelda one last hug. "Crying is fine, but don't go moping around on account of me."

"Okay, fine. Now go, before you get distracted by another idea of yours." She pulled back from the hug, her hand lingering to let go of his.

"Alright. But for what it's worth, I'll miss you too. Seeya Zelda."

Zelda watched as Link's form dissolved into embers of soulfire, and then she felt his presence fade too.

Quietly, alone in the morning sun, she cried for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats on making it here, I procrastinated writing my big fic to write this shit so... Lmao. I regret nothing.


End file.
